In 1970 my dad brought back 3 new things from the London to Caracas: A little Bimmer, a KLH Model twenty and me. The bimmer was sold to buy our house, the KLH Grazed our living room where I used to slide some of Dad's Petula Clark/military marches records...uhh, no. Good taste in Cars & Gear, not so great in Music...so I was buying records since I was 6. Some of the Kiddie stuff in Latinamerica was pretty great, made by some of the same guys who wrote grown up music (many Broadway's covers tough). The Model Twenty behaved Admirably. Finally, became a teen, changed music tastes (first Pop, then Rock) so I boxed the KLH and got Two Technics SL1200 and a mixer. Changed the Technics cartridge for Shure but it didn't made as big of a difference as I tought it would...also my I tought that my speakers weren't great, so started a long quest for better speakers. When I figured I liked my speakers but my amp was at fault, changed many amps until I settled on a 60's rebuilt Scott. Got a ARXA and tough things could be better...so I got a Rega 3 but got floored by a Linn...while I saved for the Linn, I found a VPI Scout and I liked it as much (or more, after we got the settings/cartridge right). The VPI got damaged in transport and I was too broke now to replace it, so I was recommended to go the Lenco route...I bought a L59 to trade the arm and found out how good it was with the original arm.
And I was happy...
Until a friend broke his old crummy TT. I kept my eyes open and I found a ... KLH Model Twenty in a Junkshop. Free 'cause it was damaged. I looked like it would make a nice Low end Record Player for my buddy. After a few days in my bench, I plugged in the KLH and found out...that it wasn't too different sounding from my Lenco/Scott setup...
But I am sure that some of you aren't surprised at all...
I recon I have new found respect for those old Brown Boxes...after all, they probably sound good because of the very same reasons why my L-59/LK72 kicks...much better engineering than what I tough my first time with them, idler wheels and sprung arms an all of that "low end" tech...